Posted on 07/09/2004 9:00:51 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
Eye of the Storm: Iraq Gets an Arab 'Helping Hand'
July 08, 2004
The Jerusalem Post
Amir Taheri
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1168644/posts?page=20#20
"The bitter memories can be forgotten."
NO. They WON'T Be.
This just in from a student inside of Iran...
"DoctorZin,
Tabriz students will go on hunger strike to force the officials to release their arrested classmate.
Ali... was arrested yesterday during an attempt to organize people to protest in Tabriz."
Rights groups target Iran regime on anniversary of student protests
TEHRAN, July 8 (AFP) - Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Thursday challenged Iran's clerical regime over what they said were widespread incidences of torture committed in the wake of student-led unrest five years ago.
In a statement released in London coinciding with the anniversary of the July 1999 disturbances, Amnesty called on Iran's hardline judiciary to undertake an impartial review of the trials of detained demonstrators.
It pointed to the cases of two detained activists, Akbar Mohammadi and Ahmad Batebi, who have complained of being subject to torture -- including being held under a "drain full of excrement" -- to exact confessions.
"To Amnesty International's knowledge, no open, independent investigation has ever been conducted into the allegations of ill treatment and torture," the statement said, adding that several fleeing students were granted asylum in European countries "where they received treatment for a range of incidences of torture, including instrumental rape."
New York-based Human Rights Watch called on the Iranian government to "immediately release all student detainees still imprisoned for peaceful dissent".
"In the weeks following the protests, thousands of students were arrested, taken away by the busload, and held in detention centers and prisons. While many of those initially detained were released, an unknown number of student protestors remain in prison," the group said.
"In subsequent years, students across the country have commemorated the anniversary of the July 1999 protestors with peaceful demonstrations and public speeches. This year, however, with repression at its highest since 1999, the government's message to students is clear: those who speak out will be detained, punished, and worse."
On July 9, 1999, pro-democracy students clashed with police in Tehran and other cities in unrest sparked by a heavy-handed police and vigilante raid on a small and peaceful campus protest over the closure of a newspaper.
This year the anniversary falls on Thursday, July 8, due to the difference in the Gregorian and Persian calendars.Officially, one student was killed and hundreds of others injured in the 1999 violence, which prompted a major crackdown on dissent in universities -- a major driving force behind the pro-democracy movement.
On each anniversary, the regime has sought to prevent any gatherings from taking place.This week Iranian authorities signalled they have outlawed all commemorations.
"In recent years there have been excellent relations between police and students and today, hand in hand, we should try to forget the bad memories of the 18th of Tir," or July 9, 1999, Tehran police chief General Morteza Talaie was quoted as telling student representatives this week.
University campuses and dormitories have all been closed for the summer, and a tour of the university areas in Tehran showed only a minimal police presence, regular evening traffic and no gatherings, AFP correspondents said.
In recent months, police and special forces units have also been out in force in the capital, officially to help crack down on bad driving amid an effort to cut Iran's massive highway death toll.
During anti-regime protests last summer, some 4,000 people were arrested. On the anniversary itself in 2003, protestors merely took to the streets of Tehran in their cars, honking their horns, with the sidewalks and universities patrolled by huge numbers of police.
http://www.iranmania.com/news/090704d.asp
Why do they barracade the demonstraters and put tons of cops all around? I've never seen that happen in the US. When you were demonstrating in california did the Iranian-Americans stop and talk to normal people walking by about what was going on or were the streets closed?
Iran army in new clashes with Turkish Kurdish rebels
TEHRAN, July 10 (AFP) - Iranian troops killed two Turkish Kurdish rebels in clashes close to the Iraqi border, Tehran dailies said Saturday, amid reports of a major offensive by Tehran on Ankara's behalf.
The latest fighting took place on Thursday near the town of Baneh, in the far northwest of Kordestan province, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the nearest part of Turkey, the papers said.
"These people had illegally crossed the border, ruined border villages and extorted money from residents," the Hambastegi newspaper quoted an unidentified official as saying.
The new fighting comes hot on the heels of deadly clashes near the Turkish border between Iranian troops and the rebels from the former Kurdistan Workers' Party, now known as Kongra-Gel.
Deputy Interior Minister Ali Asghar Ahmadi said two Iranian soldiers and eight rebels were killed in the June 28 clashes. A pro-Kurdish news agency said 16 soldiers and four rebels died.
The Germany-based MHA news agency said Iranian security forces had launched "a comprehensive operation" against the former PKK late last month after the rebels abandoned a five-year unilateral ceasefire with Ankara on June 1.
Ahmadi is himself to travel to Turkey Monday to discuss joint moves to tackle armed groups holed up in the mountainous border region.
Turkish defence sources have already hailed what they described as a "large-scale" operation against the former PKK by the Iranian army.
Turkey and Iran have in recent years intensified cooperation on security matters, including against the former PKK, after a chilly period during which the two sides accused each other of sheltering their respective dissidents.
Iran has a large Kurdish minority of its own and shares Turkey's determination to stamp out any moves by the community towards greater autonomy.
Some 37,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands driven from their homes during Ankara's suppression of the PKK's 1984-99 insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
Most of the group's militants are since believed to have taken refuge in northern Iraq.
http://www.iranmania.com/news/100704e.asp
‘US firm is part of nuclear black market’
VIENNA: An investigation of the black market supplying countries wanting nuclear arms has spread to more than 20 firms — some of them North American — the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief told The Associated Press on Friday. A senior diplomat identified one of the firms as US based. .
Requesting anonymity, the diplomat also said the Syria and Saudi Arabia are also being investigated as possible buyer nations, beyond Iraq, Iran, Libya and North Korea — the countries known to have been in contact with Pakistani scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and members of his alleged network.
But the diplomat, who is familiar with the Vienna-based IAEA told AP that beyond suspicions prompting a continuing investigation, “there has been no proof” on Syria and Saudi Arabia that would warrant them being reported to the IAEA board of governors.
In separate comments to AP, IAEA Director General Muhammad ElBaradei avoided specifics on the locations of the firms supplying the nuclear black market beyond saying there were “in over 20 countries, some of them in North America”.
The diplomat said at least one of them was in the United States. He declined to elaborate, saying the agency “was not yet at the bottom of that story”.
But he said what was known about that company shed new light on the activities of the network, known up to now for primarily supplying technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran as part of the process allowing them to make enriched uranium that can be used either to generate electricity or make weapons.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_10-7-2004_pg7_4
"As long as Americans are busy in Iraq, they will not think of other places in the region." "
LoL. Good. Let them think that.
""We are at war with the enemy," Iran's Supreme Guide Ali Khamenehi told a meeting of mullahs in the city of Hamadan, west of Teheran, last Monday. "The central battlefield [of this war] is Iraq." "
Sure sounds to me like he just announced that Iran is at war with the U.S. HELLLOOO??? ANYone Listening???
Kuwait Seizes Three Iranian Fishing Boats -Iran TV
Fri Jul 9, 2004 09:47 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Kuwait has seized three Iranian fishing boats after they strayed into its waters in the latest in a string of incidents involving Iran and its Gulf neighbors, Iranian state television said Friday.
The boats' seizure, which appears to reflect stricter enforcement of territorial boundaries by Iran and its Gulf neighbors in recent weeks, came just two weeks after Iran captured and held three British naval vessels and their eight crew for three days.
The latest spat with Kuwait comes after an Iranian fishing boat was captured in the waters of the United Arab Emirates last month. Another Iranian fishing boat was fired upon by a Qatari naval vessel and later seized in similar circumstances.
Iran, which has made efforts to improve relations with its Arab neighbors under President Mohammad Khatami's reformist government, retaliated by seizing a number of fishing boats from the United Arab Emirates.
State television said Iran's embassy in Kuwait had confirmed the seizure of the three Iranian vessels and their crew.
"The Iranian embassy will follow up the issue Saturday," television quoted an unnamed Iranian diplomat as saying.
Kuwait security sources said the incident took place three days ago when the Iranian fishing boats accidentally entered Kuwaiti territorial waters. They said the Iranians had either been released or were in the process of being released.
Iran last month captured three British naval vessels and arrested eight British crewmen in the narrow Shatt al-Arab waterway along the Iran-Iraq border. Iran released the crewmen after three nights in captivity.
Britain said last week Iran had forced the British vessels into Iranian waters while the men were operating inside Iraqi territory, a charge that Iran strongly denies.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5630838
Allawi to visit Syria and Iran shortly, the Turkish army warns the Kurds, again
Iraq-Syria, Politics, 7/9/2004
The Turkish army has warned the Kurds of Iraq against the consequences of attempting to change the people's demography in Karkouk, renewing its call on the US to chase the fighters of the Kurdistani Labor Party in northern Iraq, considering that Washington has not succeeded in meeting Ankara's demands to this effect.
Meantime, a spokesman for the Iraqi government said that its chairman Eyad Allawi will pay a visit to Iran, Syria and Kuwait in the framework of a tour in the region " within the coming days" and will also head to London and Brussels.
The spokesman explained that Allawi's tour will also cover Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as " other countries" adding that Allawi will not make his tour at one time.
Meantime, the assistant for the Turkish army chief of staff Gen. Elker Basbough said in an implicit remark to the Kurds of Iraq that " ethnical groups are seeking to change the demographic structure in Karkouk at a time when measures are taken to establish peace in Iraq." He added " we expect the provisional Iraqi government will prevent that," noting the failure in having a " just and durable solution" for Karkouk's situation constitutes a threat for the geographical and political unity of Iraq."
Basbourgh warned that such a development will create great concern in Turkey on the security of the region. On the other hand, Basbourgh warned that the Turkish army will keep its forces positioned in north Iraq as far as the activists of the Kurdistani Labor party are in the region. He said " it is clear that the US has not so far succeeded in taking any effective measure against those terrorists and satisfy our expectations."
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040709/2004070914.html
This would be headline news to the CIA. I was thinking this whole thing over the other day. I was thinking, perhaps, the main reason we went into Iraq was so we'd have a bastion of strength for the CIA to be able to send in covert op's and agents into Iran. Before going into Iraq we hardly had anyone in the region and very difficult for covert op's to operate effectively. But, that's probably just me giving the CIA more credit than it deserves.
Bassiji Kills College Professor in Jahrom
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Jul 10, 2004
In the afternoon of Wednsday 17 Tir (July 7th), the Bassij mercenaries in the city of Jahrom killed a young 26 year old man. His name was Akbar Rahmanian, and he was a College Professor and computer engineer at the Jahrom's Azad university.
Akbar Rahmanian,was arrested on his way home by the Bassij, and after an interrogation on the street he was killed.
A mercenary by the name of Youssefi shot him in the shoulder and head, killing him instantly. This new murder has enraged the Jahromis and the students who are seeking justice.
http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_7038.shtml
Iran's supreme leader proposes national costume
July 10, 2004, 15:26
Iranians should design a national costume of which they can be proud but should not take their lead from the pages of Western fashion magazines, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, was quoted as saying today. Conservatives have recently launched a crackdown on young women who flout Iran's strict Islamic dress codes by wearing figure-hugging coats and allowing hair to spill out from under their headscarves.
But Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters, said there was no need for panic. "The young people in this country are pure believers and joyful and are very interested in Islam," he was quoted as telling young people in the western city of Hamadan. The Sharq daily said he returned to the idea of a national costume which he floated years ago.
"Arabs, Indians, Indonesians and Africans have their own costumes and they are proud of them," Khamenei said. "I say sit down and design a national costume. But I am not saying that it should be something dating back to 500 years ago," he added. "I am saying if you want to cut your hair short, if you want to change the way you put on make-up, if you want to change the way you walk - then do it."
"If fashion designers in Europe and America design a kind of clothes for men and women in their fashion magazines, should we copy them in Tehran, Mashhad and Hamadan? That would be bad," he said. "Cultural mimicry is a big danger, but don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to fashion, variety and innovation."
Khamenei, normally attired in black turban and long clerical robes, said there was nothing wrong with coats and trousers and that from time to time he would wear a western-style raincoat. A national costume would be of particular interest to hardline cleric Ahmad Khatami, who expressed his fears on sartorial freedoms to the Hambastegi newspaper.
"Some women appear in the streets half a millimetre from breaking the Islamic dress code. It is a very dangerous trend," he said. - Reuters
http://www.sabcnews.com/world/the_middle_east/0,2172,83382,00.html
Author of "Millionaire Mullahs" Shot Dead
July 10, 2004
CNN
CNN.com
For Paul Klebnikov's, "Millionaire Mullahs" article, click here
http://www.forbes.com/global/2003/0721/024.html
MOSCOW, Russia -- Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Russia who once penned a critical book on Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, was shot and killed as he left work Friday.
"Paul was a superb reporter -- courageous, energetic, ever-curious," Steve Forbes, the president and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, said in a statement sent to all employees.
"He exemplified the finest traditions of our profession and served his readers well. All of us at Forbes are devastated by what has happened and send our condolences and prayers to his wife and family."
Klebnikov was shot four times and died shortly afterward. He was leaving the Forbes Russia office in Moscow when he was gunned down.
Klebnikov was the first editor of Forbes Russia, which launched in April with a circulation of about 40,000.
The magazine contains content based on the Forbes U.S. edition, but also includes Russian business news.
In 2000, Klebnikov wrote a book on Berezovsky titled, "Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism."
Berezovsky was a one-time Russian car dealer who became one of the richest men in Russia after the fall of Communism.
"This individual had risen out of nowhere to become the richest businessman in Russia and one of the most powerful individuals in the country," Klebnikov wrote.
Klebnikov joined Forbes in 1989 and rose to the position of senior editor at the magazine, specializing in Russian and Eastern European politics, before heading up the Forbes Russia venture.
"He knew Russia well. It was a country he loved deeply," Forbes said.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/09/forbes.russia/index.html
YOUNG IRANIANS WANTS FREEDOM AND SUCCESS IN LIFE
By Delphine Minoui
Posted Saturday, July 10, 2004
PARIS, 10 July (IPS) Younger Iranians, including the students, fed up with 25 years of constant religious propaganda by the regime, are looking to new ways to succeed in life, far away from the official ideology.
In an article published Saturday by the French centre right newspaper “Le Figaro”, Ms. Delphine Minou’i, the paper’s correspondent in Tehran says the “new source of imitation for the young Iranians are no more the grand ayatollahs, but those who have made fortune thanks to their initiatives.
The article coincides with the fifth commemoration of the students revolt against the Islamic Republic, an event that had been prohibited by the authorities, deploying massive police forces in Tehran and other major cities to prevent any demonstrations by the students.
Although the date passed without major demonstrations, but officials admitted the arrest of some five hundreds “trouble-makers” they said had “nothing to do with the students.
As the regime stopped the students to mark the savage assault on students who were demonstrating peacefully in their dormitories the closure of a popular newspaper, the Office for Consolidating Unity, the Iranian student’s largest organisation called on the United Nations to help them identifying the culprits of the nightly raid that resulted in the arrest of hundreds of students, the wounding of hundred others and the death of at least one.
“Since all our efforts to have the culprits brought to trial have reached no conclusion, we call on international organisations to put pressures on the Iranian authorities in the identification of those responsible for the savage operation against the students”, the OCU said in a communiqué.
“As all good Shi’ite who respects itself, Babak Moradi possesses a "marja’", a "source of imitation", spiritual guide to which the Iranians refer traditionally in important moments of their life. But contrary to his coreligionists, the young Tehrani of 24 years didn't choose an ayatollah in turban and white beard. His "marja’" is called Jack Welch, the former Chairman of the American giant General Electric”, the article starts.
"I read a great number of his books", confess Babak, who has just finished brilliantly studies in industrial management at the Shahid Behechti University. "He is an aged and experienced man, but has remained young in his head. For me, it is very important. He is creative and looks toward the future. He is a true manager, but above all, an excellent coach". He adds.
Tired of the repetitive speeches of the religious who rule the country since twenty-five years, the new Iranian generation sulks the politics. For the commemoration of the student’s riots of the summer 1999, the majority of the students opted for silence. Disappointed by the failure of the reforms initiated in 1997 by President Khatami, disgusted by the return in strength of the conservatives that have taken back the majority in the new Parliament and controlled closely by the police and judicial forces, they are in quest of new models of reference.
To the collective mobilization experienced by their parents at the time of the revolution of 1979, they prefer a more individual approach, a violent, underground revolt. Hence the hitherto boom of the reading of books touching to the spiritual, to psychology, to the techniques of communication and to the individual's success.
"My generation lived the post-revolution years, then the Iran-Iraq War. Today, the religious are incapable to meet our expectations. There is no freedom, no economic outlets. My only way to escape is the reading of books that gives me the keys to success", says Forouzan, a 35 years-old secretary. "The Iranians live in an environment that is closed on them", analyses the Iranian novelist Moniroo Ravanipour, who also keeps a small bookstore. "They live in a stuffy environment that they cannot change. Therefore, while reading these books, they try to change themselves", she says.
On the Avenue Enqelab, just in front of the university of Tehran, the windows of the bookstores overflow with books to the appetizing stocks: How better to know oneself. The Alphabet of Joy. The Vitamins of the hope etc.. Hossein Sadeghi, bookseller of 25 years, also specializes in this kind of works. "It is an excellent business. These are the books best sold. I sometimes sell more than a hundred of them in a week", he says.
Hossein Sadeghi knew how to evolve with his time. After the election of Khatami, seven years ago, and the softening of censorship, political and philosophical essays quickly conquered the Iranian public, thirsty of novelties. But the fashion is the translation of the works of American "gurus" like Anthony Robins. "The translation of his last book is now in its 24th print", Sadeghi points out.
“House made” gurus have also made its apparition in Tehran. "Not only you must respect the other, but you must respect yourself first”, is the advise of Fakhrian Khoshiar, in his book “Recover confidence in oneself in one day”. One has also to add the specialized magazines that offer a multitude of miracle recipes. The more in vogue is called ”Movafaqiat” (Success). Its director even proposes seminaries based on "the techniques of the success".
“One is well far from the religious ideals that the regime tries to impose. "I am Moslem and I accept the Islam", says Maryam, adding, "but the religious don't know how to speak to the young. When I read their books, it is the true gibberish", she says.
ENDS STUDENTS SITUATION 10704
Editor’s note: This is a free translation of Ms. Minou’i’ article.
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2004/july/students_situation_10704.shtml
Bump!
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